Cougars Need Hour Of Power Two Great Halves Would Make Whole Difference
The question was put to Mike Price shortly after his Washington State Cougars put together a great half of football in knocking off UCLA 24-15 last Saturday:
What might happen if you put 60 minutes of great football together against unbeaten and No. 2-ranked Nebraska?
“I think we’ll win,” replied Price, “but I don’t know if we’re capable of playing 60 minutes of great football right yet. I don’t know if we’re that far along in our development.”
Price should get a pretty good read on the progress his veteran offense and young defense have made when he sends his Cougars (2-1) into the hostile surroundings of Memorial Stadium to take on the Cornhuskers (4-0) in a non-conference game that should draw another sellout crowd of 72,700.
Nebraska, which is riding an NCAA-record string of 33 consecutive winning seasons, has sold out for its last 204 home games. The Huskers have been to 26 consecutive bowl games, another NCAA record, and have not won fewer than nine games in a season since 1968.
They come into today’s game having outscored their first four opponents 240-66 while rolling up an average of 688.5 yards per game. Nebraska leads the nation in total offense, rushing offense (507) and scoring offense (60.0) and boasts one of the country’s top option quarterbacks in Tommie Frazier.
“It’s one of the premier programs of the world, of the nation, of the entire universe, and I’m not joking,” Price said of the Cornhuskers. “Nebraska is the best running team in America right now, but they do it with a lot of different schemes.
“They’re a lot more complicated than I anticipated, offensively and defensively.”
The key to slowing Nebraska’s offense will be to keep Frazier and Co., off the field. And to do that, the Cougars offense is going to have to take care of the football and move it consistently, like it did in the first half of the UCLA game.
But they are going to have to do it against a vastly under-rated defense that Price said is the best, by far, his team has faced.
“We’ve got to be able to run the ball and mix it up - run and pass,” Price said. “It’ll be interesting to see just how well we can run the ball against Nebraska. It’ll be a good challenge.”
WSU, a four-touchdown underdog, has history on its side. The Cougars are 3-0 against the Huskers, having last knocked them off 19-10 in Memorial Stadium in 1977.
Warren Powers, who now sells van and trucks for a GMC dealership in St. Louis, was the coach of the WSU team and Jack Thompson was the quarterback.
Thompson was part of the traveling party that accompanied the team and addressed the players at Friday’s workout.
“I don’t want the stigma of being the first Washington State coach to lose to Nebraska,” said Price, who was on Powers’ staff in 1977 and followed him to Missouri the next year. “That’s a heckuva stigma to have.”
Key matchups
Nebraska started the season with an inexperience offensive line that seems to have matured in a hurry. It’s matched against a WSU defensive front that is even younger.
“The thing that concerns me most is their offensive line,” said Cougars defensive coordinator Bill Doba. “They’re as good as I’ve ever seen for what they’re doing. They really come off the ball as a unit.
“In the four game films that we’ve watched, I’ve seen two blown assignments and no holding penalties.”
Doba said he hopes to keep his defense basic against the Huskers, resorting to the blitz only when Nebraska is in good scoring position.
Players to watch
WSU quarterback Chad Davis is improving each week and seemed as comfortable under center last Saturday as he has at any time since winning the starting job last fall.
If the Cougars hope to control the football, the 6-1 junior will have to stay sharp and stay upright.
When Nebraska has the football, Frazier will be the main attraction. But junior I-back Damon Benning, who has been cleared to play after suffering an ankle sprain against Pacific last Saturday, is averaging 13.1 yards per carry since taking over for suspended starter Lawrence Phillips.
Injury update
Nebraska won’t have starting middle linebacker Phil Ellis, a 6-2, 225-pound senior, who broke his foot near the end of practice Wednesday.
WSU cornerback Greg Burns, who dislo cated his shoulder in last Saturday’s win over UCLA, made the trip but is not expected to play. Shad Hinchen is scheduled to start in his place.
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Graphic: Cougars at Nebraska